Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

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2. The Problem of
Educated Unemployment
2.1 Work Participation and Unemployment
Until the early 1970s, Kerala’s population grew at a
higher rate than at the all-India level; however, the
work participation rate (the ratio of number of people
working to the total population) remained low. This
is partly due to the structure of the Kerala economy
dominated by low labour absorbing cash crops. This
started showing signs of change in the 1990s, with a
decline in the dominance of agricultural employment.
According to estimates of the NSSO shown in Table 7.1,
the work participation rates (WPR) in Kerala was steady
in the 1990s as against a decline at the all-India level,
bringing both to around 39 per cent. This is significant
warranting further analysis.
Disaggregation by sex and age group shows that in
Kerala, the work participation rates of men in the
age group of 25-45 years increased in the two time
periods since 1987-88, a result very likely of greater
employment opportunities. In contrast, increase in
women’s work participation rates was confined to the
age group of 35-54 years in the urban areas alone.
This is, of course, an indication that women’s ability
to take up work is enhanced when their reproductive
responsibilities ease to some extent at least past the
child-bearing age. The overall tendency at the all-India
level was in contrast to that of Kerala, with a decline
in the work participation rate for all age groups except
for a marginal increase (less than 0.5 percentage points)
in the rural age-group of 40-49 and 55-59. This could
be the result of the declining employment elasticity of
growth, especially due to the shift to commercial crops
(as opposed to food crops) in agriculture and the decline
in employment in many urban industries (such as jute,
textiles, and older generation of other manufacturing).
Another factor is the increasing share of students in the
younger age group, which has also contributed to the
continued decline in work participation rates of the
young age group of 15-24 in Kerala. The impact of the
demographic transition is yet to show itself in these age
groups, as the absolute numbers of population in these
categories are still increasing. However, as shown later,
many students may be looking for some employment.
Needless to say, the increase in educational attainments
augments the ability of men and women to find
employment opportunities in an increasingly diversified
labour market.
Male WPRs in Kerala are more than twice those for
females – 55 per cent vis-à-vis 23 per cent for females,
and while the former has increased since 1987-88,
female WPRs remained constant during the 1990s
(Table 7.1). The worker sex ratio (female workers per 1,000
male workers) which had declined from almost 536 in
1987-88 to about 439 in 1993-94 further declined
to 436 in 1999-00. This is reflected also in a decline
in the share of women in the total work force from
35 per cent to 30.5 in the early 1990s and then further to
30.3 per cent in 1999-00. 1
Female WPRs in Kerala have been among the lowest
in India. Currently, while over a quarter of the female
population is recorded as economically active at the
all-India level, the proportion is about 23 per cent in
Table 7.1: Work Force Participation Rates (Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status)
Kerala
All-India
1987-88 1993-94 1999-00 1987-88 1993-94 1999-00
Rural Male 50.6 53.7 55.3 53.9 55.3 53.1
Rural Female 28.6 23.8 23.8 32.6 32.8 29.9
Urban Male 53.0 55.9 55.8 50.6 52.1 51.8
Urban Female 19.8 20.3 20.3 15.2 15.5 13.9
Total Male 51.2 54.3 55.4 53.1 54.4 52.7
Female 26.5 22.9 22.9 28.1 28.3 25.4
Person 38.6 38.3 38.7 41.1 41.8 39.5
Source: 1987-88: Sarvekshana, September 1990; 1993-94: Sarvekshana, July-September 1996; 1999-00: “Employment and Unemployment Situation in India”, 1999-2000,
Report No. 458,NSS 55th Round, NSSO, Government of India, May 2001 Sarvekshana.
1 These percentages have been estimated on the basis of absolute numbers in the work force and its composition derived from
the WPRs and population data.